The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified? Page: 5
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sake" (Cohen-Wheeler 1997). Other tales recount the stories of divine intervention when it came
to castration. A Carthusian monk and bishop of the knightly class in Burgundy was said to have
been castrated by a descending saint from heaven. He was relieved of his "intense sexual desire"
which granted him "only calm from that moment on" (Cohen-Wheeler 1997).
It is somewhat difficult to determine the origins of these beliefs. The practice of
castration was usually steeped in religious myths and rites that are no longer used or believed by
modern societies, and in some cases are simply lost. This, accompanied by the fact that these
beliefs were considered to be quite sacred, therefore often times quite secret as well. When used
as religious rite, castration was generally tied to the idea of sacrifice. Certain necessary traits to
make one more holy and spiritual were desired. Among the utmost of importance among these
traits was the idea of celibacy. Castration served as a type of "insurance" policy in order to place
a guarantee on one's chastity, and therefore insure holiness. Other "wishes" such as fertility were
also considered. This may seem ironic considering that castration renders one infertile. But the
fertility that was to be "insured" through this strange castration belief was not individual, but
"earthly." The belief was that through one sacrificing one's own procreation, "one could assure a
fruitful and prosperous Earth." Castration was seen as a way to fertilize the "Earth goddess,"
seen as the "giver of life" (Scholz 2001). The process was also often thought of as an offering to
the gods. Offering up one's virility could be seen as the ultimate sacrifice. These were the kinds
of ideas that led to the creation of eunuchs in the first place.
But what types of lives could these early eunuchs expect? They were not created for a
specialized purpose like the castrati singers, so it is easy to assume that they may have had
extremely humble and unimportant lives. This assumption could not be farther from the truth.
But castration did not necessarily institute a life sentence of humility and servitude. It is a
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Sowle, Jennifer. The Castrato Sacrifice: Was it Justified?, thesis, August 2006; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc5343/m1/8/: accessed May 10, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .